Cole blasts Shearer on Twitter

Ashley Cole has sparked his second Twitter controversy within a matter of days after hitting back at Alan Shearer's calls for him to be banned from Friday's World Cup qualifier against San Marino at Wembley.

The Chelsea defender plunged himself into a media storm on Friday when he posted an obscenity-laced Twitter entry insisting he had not lied at the FA hearing into the John Terry racism scandal, with his club manager Roberto Di Matteo revealing his full-back will be fined for a public proclamation that breached the club's social network policy.

Yet Cole has now returned to Twitter to hit back at Shearer, after he claimed the defender - set to win his 99th international cap this weekend - should be barred from playing for England as a punishment for his outburst.

Shearer said on Saturday night: "I think the FA can put a big statement out here by actually not fining him but actually banning him on Friday against San Marino. Because we've seen players fined £50,000, £60,000, £70,000. That's not a deterrent to them. Stopping them from playing football will be a deterrent."

Cole's response was typically feisty as it read: "Alan Shearer says @TheRealAC3 needs to be banned for his comments. I want his opinion on bans for kicking Neil Lennon in the head. #GlassHouses."

The comment referred to Shearer's infamous assault on Neil Lennon back in April 1998, that led for calls for the then Newcastle striker to be banned from representing England after his flailing boot caught then Leicester midfielder Lennon in the side of the head.

An FA disciplinary hearing found Shearer not guilty of deliberately kicking Lennon 14 years ago, allowing the striker to captain his country in the 1998 World Cup finals and now the same governing body is set to decide whether to charge Cole with misconduct after his outburst against their organisation.

Following on from Cole's reaction, Shearer stood by his remark and told The Sun: "I gave my opinion and I stand by it. He can say what he wants but I'm not getting involved in that."

Chelsea officials are likely to be furious that Cole has thrown himself into another contentious incident via his increasingly inflammatory Twitter account, though manager Di Matteo insists he will not order his players to avoid using the social networking site.

Unlike his offensive remark directed at the FA, Cole has not been forced to remove his abrasive tweet directed towards TV pundit Shearer.